Laundry ESP: Laundry Environmental Stewardship Program

A Partnership Initiative with the EPA

To demonstrate the industry’s commitment to reinventing environmental protection, the Uniform and Textile Service Association (UTSA) and the Textile Rental Services Association (TRSA) created LaundryESP – the Laundry Environmental Stewardship Program. The program is a voluntary environmental pollution prevention program for the entire industry. Gurtler Industries is a charter member of the Laundry ESP program. The information and expertise we provide is vital to the success of the program. The primary goal of LaundryESP is to facilitate the textile service and supply industry’s continued commitment to environmental protection through the use of new and innovative approaches. LaundryESP is designed to build on the industry’s existing strengths of recycling and reusability and its more efficient use of resources (water, energy and wash chemicals) when compared to home laundering. LaundryESP includes the removal of pollutants before they enter the laundry facility, as well as quantifiable goals for reductions in water, energy, and washroom chemical usage. To implement LaundryESP, the two trade associations and their member companies will work with EPA, local water treatment authorities, customers, trade groups, environmental groups, and other stakeholders to ensure its success. In 2008 representatives of both UTSA and TRSA presented the latest results from the textile service industry’s voluntary environmental program, LaundryESP® to the EPA. The LaundryESP results, representing ten years of industry improvements, were more than UTSA, TRSA or the EPA could have envisioned:

• 40% INCREASE IN PRODUCTION
• 43% REDUCTION OF POLLUTANTS DISCHARGED
• 28% REDUCTION IN WATER USAGE
• 14% REDUCTION IN TOTAL ENERGY USAGE
• 14% REDUCTION IN GREENHOUSE GASES
• ANNOUNCED PLAN FOR ELIMINATION OF NPE DETERGENTS BY 2015

LaundryESP, a joint initiative between UTSA and TRSA, was highly praised for its exceptional results. Conceptualized in 1999, LaundryESP encompasses 170 textile service companies and 750 laundry plants which account for 70 percent of the industry’s production. The EPA guided the textile service industry during the program’s initial development. LaundryESP’s primary goal is to expand on the textile service industry’s continued commitment to our environment. The underlying premise of the textile service industry has always been based on the fundamental concepts of recycle and reuse. LaundryESP and its commitment to environmental protection and resource conservation is an extension of this concept. Members of the textile industry and their customers worked together on pollution prevention and resource conservation solutions. As a result of strategic partnerships, LaundryESP has had an impact on many facilities, providing a cost-effective way for these facilities to enhance environmental performance.